Why Am I Always Being Researched

How to Use

This guide is especially useful for learning how to build equity into the details and logistics of research design throughout the lifespan of a research project. The descriptions of each of the seven areas of inequity and how they hinder a true, complete picture of an issue through research are useful guiding points and areas for self-reflection. The guide focuses on:

• • access to shaping research;
  • information on what research options exist and their costs, risks, and benefits;
  • opportunities for greater research validity, through recognizing communities as valid experts;
  • ownership over research processes;
  • assessment of what value is generated and for whom;
  • authorship over the narrative; and
  • accountability, through holding funders and researchers responsible for the impacts of their research.

The guidebook also details particular ideas and examples for each of its target audiences: community organizations, professional researchers, and funders. The tools for setting up a study (including options for research design such as different types of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method approaches) are particularly helpful. The guide advises how to build in time and space for reflection, failure, and change, which is vital to the success of a collaboration and research project. It also addresses the logistics of issues such as data ownership, authorship, and other details that can emerge over the lifespan of a community science project, and that can help determine whether equity and trust are built into the practices of the research partnerships.